How to Create Health and Wellness Content That’s Engaging AND FDA Compliant

Because we specialize in the health and wellness and alternative medicine and medical industries, we face unique challenges. Whether we’re posting to Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, producing video, or writing product descriptions and blogs, our content must comply with strict FDA and financial institution regulations and provide an engaging and valuable experience for our clients’ target audiences.

If you’re having trouble marketing medical cannabis, medicinal mushrooms, homeopathic supplements and herbs, or alternative medicine services, here are seven tips to do it well and legally.

1) Use Disclaimers

Whenever you’re talking about supplements, products, or services, you need a formal disclaimer. It also never hurts to preface any medical topic by telling your readership to consult a doctor before trying a supplement, herb, or homeopathic product—especially if they’re pregnant, nursing, or taking medication that new supplements could interfere with.

2) Never Recommend

Unless you’re an M.D., you can’t outrightly recommend a product. There are ways to get around this to promote products you love. Instead of saying, “We recommend so-and-so supplement” try saying “We use so-and-so supplement every day and love it!” Subtle word changes will keep you safe from breaking FDA compliance or getting into legal troubles.

3) Avoid Medical Claims Like the Plague

The words “treat,” “prevent,” “cure,” and “reduce” are absolute no-nos in alternative medicine marketing. That’s because legally speaking, drugs are the only things that can cure, prevent, and alleviate symptoms of a disease or condition like arthritis, the flu, or high cholesterol. Opt for words like help, promote, and support instead to avoid this major gaffe and when in doubt, use “can” and “may” before any statements too.

4) Stick to Conditions Instead of Diseases

While you may see a trend in selling certain products or services to customers who have cancer, Crohn’s Disease, or diabetes, you can’t connect your products to these diseases. Instead, stick to talking about conditions that aren’t disease related like stress, fatigue, or hot flashes for menopause and how your products can promote overall health.

5) Use Studies

We said it before and we’ll say it again, you cannot make medical claims unless you have a medical doctor license! However, you can use studies (direct from the source) to showcase information in an unbiased manner. For instance, we often use studies from reputable universities and medical journals to communicate the medically proven benefits of medicinal mushrooms—without getting into legal issues. Use studies that have been published within the last three years for relevance and accuracy.

6) Use Hashtags and CTAs Wisely on Instagram

A lot of health and wellness clients—especially those selling anything containing CBD or medical cannabis—can be blacklisted from social platforms like Instagram if their CTAs are too salesy (since these products aren’t yet legal everywhere). Stick to call to actions that don’t overly sell a product so your Instagram account and progress don’t go up in smoke. Protect your content from being blacklisted or devalued by carefully choosing your hashtags too. Never post the same hashtags over and over again or in the same order—as that can set off a red flag with Instagram’s algorithm.

7) Focus on Education

Think of your health and wellness social channels as an educational hub—where people who know nothing or a lot about supplements, herbs, and other homeopathic products can find educational tips. If you were new to this world or passionate about it, what would you want to know? To create more engaging and strategic content overall, take a look at our guides for Instagram and Twitter.

The health and wellness industries have an incredible opportunity to connect with customers in the digital world because millions of people are actively searching for ways to live healthier lives. Don’t miss out on the conversation because you’re nervous about FDA and financial compliance. Instead, use these tips to create legal and safe content that customers love. Have questions? Get in touch!